FLIGHT International. 23 January 1969 I 25
South African Airways now hove
Boeing 737-200s (designated -244s)
in service. This, ZS-SBL "Pongo/a,"
is one of the first two, of three on
order, which were delivered on
November 8
carriers will deal with unqualified foreign tour operators,"
said the CAB. "In the second place the 'public' which Pan
American believes is not given sufficient protection under the
proposal would consist predominantly of foreign nationals.''
A CAB spokesman in Washington told a Flight correspon
dent that the inclusive-tour charter arrangements are
reciprocal, i.e., non-US supplemental air carriers holding IT
charter authority will be permitted to operate US-originating
tours for American tour operators. At present Caledonian has
such authority.
ACCRA LANDING CONFUSION
PERMISSION for a transit stop (for refuelling and a crew
change) at Accra by a Caledonian Britannia on January 14
en route to Lourenco Marques was given and later revoked
by the Ghana Government, according to the airline. The
aircraft was some 3|hr outbound when it turned back.
Ghana normally requires two days' notice of such flights,
and had authorised Caledonian on similar occasions in the
past. The airline requested authority by telex six days before,
and again two days and one day before, but received no reply.
On the departure day, the flight was held until verbal
permission had been obtained by telephone from Accra. When
the flight was 2Jrhr outbound, a telex refusing permission was
received. When telephoned by Caledonian, officials in Accra
are reported to have admitted that permission had been
granted, but they added that it was now revoked. There were
a number of South Africans and Rhodesians among the
passengers. The UK Board of Trade is to investigate the
facts of the matter before deciding whether an approach to
the Ghana Government is justified.
EDINBURGH, ABERDEEN FLIGHTS STOP
ALL BEA flights to and from Aberdeen and Edinburgh were
suspended by the corporation on January 15 until further
notice because of industrial disputes at the two Scottish
airports which have disrupted operations. There have been 28
strikes and 12 cases of working to rule there since December
6, the airline said.
The trouble involves non-craft grades employed by the
Board of Trade, which operates the airports. The employees
are demanding pay rises of between 7 and 15 per cent to bring
rates up to the level of British Airports Authority employees.
The Board of Trade has offered 31 per cent rises, the
maximum allowed by the Government without associated
productivity improvement. BoT has offered to discuss further
increases allied to productivity.
A main cause of difficulty over industrial relations at
aerodromes in Britain as present is the fact that there are four
groups of employers, BAA, BoT, municipal authorities and the
private aerodrome owners.
Fire after Take-off? A Boeing 727 of United Air Lines
crashed into the sea about four minutes after take-off from
Los Angeles on the night of January 18-19. The pilot had
reported an engine-fire warning and that he was returning.
There were no survivors among the 31 passengers and crew
of six.
Safe Collision A Pacific Southwest Boeing 727 was in
collision with a private aircraft after take-off from San
Francisco International on January 6. Both landed safely—
the light aircraft at San Francisco and the 727 at its scheduled
destination in Southern California. According to reports the
crew of the 727 did not know that the two aircraft had actually
touched, but thought that it was a near-miss, though several
holes in the fuselage were later found.
Jet Safety There was a small but vital error in one of the
figures in the text of the article on jet safety in last week's
issue. When discussing the relative safety of jets as such,
Mr Alan Smith wrote that "the average fatal-accident rate, on
jets only, during the five years 1964 to 1968 was 0.14 per
100,000hr . . ." The figure (page 97. left-hand column, end of
the paragraph below the diagram) was printed as 0.4 and
should be altered by those who are keeping the article for
reference. An initial of the author was also incorrectly printed
as Alan A. instead of Alan E. Smith.
The Milan Incident A British United Airways BAC One-
Eleven (G-ASJJ) crashed soon after take-off from Milan's
Linate Airport on the evening of January 14 while on a
scheduled flight to Gatwick London after diversion from Genoa
on the outward flight. Seven among the 26 passengers and
seven crew were injured, two seriously. After a normal take-off
there was apparently a loss of power in both engines and the
One-Eleven was crash-landed on snow-covered sand about
two miles from the end of Runway 18. The aircraft was
extensively damaged in the portwing, fuselage and under
carriage and the starboard engine was detached.
Fatal Approach Ditching An SAS DC-8-62 (LN-MOO)
crashed into the sea on the night of January 13 while making
an approach to Los Angeles International after a Polar flight
from Copenhagen. Unfortunately, unlike the similar, but non
fatal, accident to a JAL DC-8-62 on November 22 while on
the approach to San Francisco, the fuselage broke aft of
the wing and the tail section sank in fairly deep water. Of the
36 passengers and nine crew members, 13 passengers and two
stewardesses died. The approach followed an earlier overshoot
after undercarriage trouble had been reported. This was only
the second fatal accident suffered by SAS since its formation
more than 20 years ago. The other involved a Caravelle at
Ankara, Turkey, in 1960.